GNU Linux-libre 4.19-gnu

[Alexandre Oliva]

GNU Linux-libre 4.19-gnu sources and tarballs are now available at
<http://www.fsfla.org/selibre/linux-libre/download/releases/4.19-gnu/>.
It didn't require any deblobbing changes since -rc7-gnu (that was never
released; when it was ready, rc8 was nearly out, and I decided to start
over and save the disk space).

Freesh binaries are already in place, Freed-ora f30 ones are building.

Freeloong ones may take longer: the yeeloong hosted at the FSF needs a
reboot to get builds going again, and 4.19-gnu builds will require a
(chroot) system upgrade to get the newer GCC it requires.  My first
attempt at such an upgrade failed part-way, after bringing network down.


In this release, a number of compiler warnings in the reject_firmware
family of functions were silenced.  The condition they reported would
never arise in practice, so their presence is harmless, but even I,
who'd written the code, was fooled the moment I saw them, so I figured
I'd better fix them.  Other harmless warnings there still remain.

Besides the usual assortment of false positives, cleaning up this new
version of Linux required disabling blob requests in several drivers:
MT76x0U and MT76x2U WiFi, MTk Bluetooth UART, Keystone and Qualcomm
Hexagon Remoteproc, and Aspeed ColdFire FSI Master.  New blob names or
other updates were required for AMD GPU, Adreno, brcmfmac, mlxsw, Intel
Skylake sound and Silead touchscreen.


For up-to-the-minute news, join us on #linux-libre of irc.gnu.org
(Freenode), or follow me (@lxoliva) on Twister <http://twister.net.co/>,
Secure Scuttlebutt, GNU social at social.libreplanet.org, Diaspora* at
pod.libreplanetbr.org or pump.io at identi.ca.  Check my web page (link
in the signature) for direct links.


Be Free! with GNU Linux-libre.


What is GNU Linux-libre?
------------------------

  GNU Linux-libre is a Free version of the kernel Linux (see below),
  suitable for use with the GNU Operating System in 100% Free
  GNU/Linux-libre System Distributions.
  http://www.gnu.org/distros/

  It removes non-Free components from Linux, that are disguised as
  source code or distributed in separate files.  It also disables
  run-time requests for non-Free components, shipped separately or as
  part of Linux, and documentation pointing to them, so as to avoid
  (Free-)baiting users into the trap of non-Free Software.
  http://www.fsfla.org/anuncio/2010-11-Linux-2.6.36-libre-debait

  Linux-libre started within the gNewSense GNU/Linux distribution.
  It was later adopted by Jeff Moe, who coined its name, and in 2008
  it became a project maintained by FSF Latin America.  In 2012, it
  became part of the GNU Project.

  The GNU Linux-libre project takes a minimal-changes approach to
  cleaning up Linux, making no effort to substitute components that
  need to be removed with functionally equivalent Free ones.
  Nevertheless, we encourage and support efforts towards doing so.
  http://libreplanet.org/wiki/LinuxLibre:Devices_that_require_non-free_firmware

  Our mascot is Freedo, a light-blue penguin that has just come out
  of the shower.  Although we like penguins, GNU is a much greater
  contribution to the entire system, so its mascot deserves more
  promotion.  See our web page for their images.
  http://linux-libre.fsfla.org/

What is Linux?
--------------

  Linux is a clone of the Unix kernel [...]

(snipped from Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst)

-- 
Alexandre Oliva, freedom fighter   https://FSFLA.org/blogs/lxo
Be the change, be Free!         FSF Latin America board member
GNU Toolchain Engineer                Free Software Evangelist
Hay que enGNUrecerse, pero sin perder la terGNUra jamás-GNUChe